Monday’s Pen to Paper: Is Meddling With Your Work Worth it
I’ve been editing the first few chapters of my young adult novel. It’s amazing to me how many things that I can find to change and rearrange. But all that meddling is good (within reason). My first draft was just that, a draft.
I write my drafts with my head down, with little thought to how the sentences read, I give more thought to the ideas I want to get down on paper. Often I will use parenthesis surrounding a question mark or surrounding a word that encompasses my thought, without really finishing out the sentence, and then keep writing.
For example I might write, Sandy set her (?) on the bench before she pushed Cameron in the back. Or, it was (extremely hot, smoldering, show this somehow) inside the subway station. Ben scanned the kitchen then (get character to basement here). Often I’m in a hurry, I have an idea and don’t want to loose my train of thought, so I don’t take time to find the right word or sentence, I move on. This means I have a lot of extra work to do when I move to editing.
I write and rewrite and rewrite again. And after that I read out loud and then start over. Editing can be a long and often a frustrating process (maybe longer for me than it is for others), but when you make yourself stay with it, when you get a sentence, a paragraph, or heaven forbid an entire chapter to come together, boy is it worth it.
Keep on writing!
WRITING PROMPT 1: Take a piece that you’ve been working on, or a chapter, or a paragraph, and read it out loud. What sticks out? What changes might you make?
WRITING PROMPT 2: Open to a blank page. Close your eyes. Breathe. […]
PEACELOVEBASKETBALL: Life Rules
A friend asked me to help coach a 6th grade boys basketball team this fall. A couple of years ago I stepped down as Varsity Head Coach of the West Seattle High School girl’s program and I wasn’t sure I wanted to coach again, but when I stepped onto the court and saw the boys hustling across the floor at tryouts, I knew it was the right decision. When I got home, I went straight to my office, pulled open my coaching file and started planning. I scanned the first three documents in my coaching notebook, Westside Big 5, West Seattle Practice Rules and “10 to Win” Westside Rules of Defense, two of the three have nothing to do with basketball skills, a reminder to me of what coaching is truly about, teaching life skills.
Whether your players are in grade school or college there’s more to teach than just the fundamentals. Don’t get me wrong, I have coached for 25 years, and I love the fundamentals, I’m a stickler for the fundamentals, but I try to build a team mentality and have some fun along the way. At the varsity level there is an emphasis on winning, but what made our 2015 West Seattle team strong in the end, what got them to go undefeated in league and find success at the State level, was a belief in one another. This team mentality and positive attitude was backed with pride and sportsmanship. And, if you asked the girls, I believe they would say they are grateful for their experience and their teammates.
I’ll only have these 6th grade boys for a short practice once a week, and I will focus on the fundamentals and […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Writing is hard. I give up.
It’s hard to write. I have yet to get on an ongoing regular schedule. I have had times where I’m on task and I love it, then life gets in the way. Last year I cleaned up and sold one house and remodeled and sold another. That took up a lot of time and energy. In the spring we had extended family living with us, which bit into free time, and then during the summer my kids are both around, so I’m always busy. Simply put, finding time to write can be a struggle.
Sometimes I just want to give up.
I have written posts about how I’m working on finding time to write, and what I have realized is that if you have a busy life, and have not established yourself as a writer in your mind, or by receiving a good paycheck, its hard to justify putting writing first. The kids, the dishes, the dogs, the groceries, work, and everything else seems to get priority.
So what can you do?
Reevaluate your schedule often. Figure out what is important to you and make a place for it in your life. Writing is important to me, but I also have other priorities. My family comes first, and then of course I love to play basketball and be active, and…and…and, this is why I have to sit down and reassess how to keep writing in my schedule.
I write once a week with my friend Jenny (that’s a given), and what has worked best for me after that is to grab my computer and go to “the office” (a coffee shop away from my house and my responsibilities). Still, this is not easy and unless I give myself a little talking to, […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Give It a Rest
All of my life I have been active and when I’m on the court, I go all out, but I also know how important it is to have my body working. I spent time in a wheel chair when I was 24 years old, I’ve been on crutches a couple of times, and I’ve sprained ankles, torn ligaments and fought tendonitis and when I’m hurt it’s a lot more difficult to do the things I want to do, so I do what I can to stay healthy, which sometimes means giving my body a break.
Recently my daughter went in for her second knee surgery in less than a year. The doctors had to stitch down the meniscus and she was given a three-month timeline for getting back on the court. After her first surgery many questioned her then two-month timeline. “My meniscus tear only took 3 weeks”, “I was walking the next day.” I suggested she work hard on rehab but even more important, listen to her body. It is more important for her knee to be healed for the long run.
As athletes we must learn to really listen to our bodies. We are taught to push ourselves to the limit, to go beyond what we are capable of, that’s what good athlete’s do, but we also need to understand that our bodies are our temples, our vehicles for living the life we want to live.
Without a healthy body you can’t run the race, play the game, climb the mountain. So if your body needs it, give it a rest.
Would rest have made a difference for my daughter last year? No one knows for sure, she waited two months while doing rehab so that shouldn’t have […]
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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PEACELOVEBASKETBALL: Can I Play? Dreaming In The Wave Of Title IX
The recent loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has left me heartbroken. I didn’t have a personal connection to her, but what I know of her, I love, and I am grateful for how she fought for women’s rights and equal rights.
It is because of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (and many other strong women before my time), that I have the right to vote, that I have access to birth control, that I was able to get a credit card before I was married and that, if I want, I can buy a house without my husband’s signature, to name a few.
And of course there’s Title IX (which bans sex discrimination and sexual harassment in federally subsidized educational programs, including athletics). This 1972 Education Amendment is what opened up doors for me to play the sport I love at the next level and get a better education, and for that […]
PEN TO PAPER: Wants & Needs
There’s a feeling in my soul right now that has inspired me to blog again. Maybe I’m working through anger and frustration about what is happening in the world with the pandemic, the coming election and the onset of fires across the west coast. Or perhaps it’s simply the fact that I’m at home a lot these days. Whatever the case, I’m finally doing more writing. And I like it.
I haven’t felt such a strong urge to write for a while. Not like this. Other than my Thursday’s with Jenny, my writing time has been more of a grind. Sonya, you should work on your book. Sonya you should blog. I want to finish my book, so I sit down and write and rewrite and write some more, and I’m always glad that I do, but it’s been hard.
I love the feeling that […]
LIFE INSPIRED FITNESS: Tracking Your Success
At the start of the pandemic, my husband, son and I, set goals to stay in shape and do core workouts daily, so I made a chart so that we could track what we did. It worked. At least for me (the boys didn’t keep up with the chart even when they were working out). When my chart ran out, however, so did my consistent workout schedule.
I’m pretty good at letting life inspire me to get some workouts in and stay in shape, but part of staying healthy for me these days includes working on my flexibility and mind, so I’m trying to include yoga and meditation. I even added those categories to my chart, which is where the chart was really helping me.
When I was young I was always busy, playing basketball and running around. I’m still busy, just not as busy, and for some reason for me it’s easy […]
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